More About Sunday...

As I told you yesterday, my Sunday drive began hours earlier than actually necessary. As I came off our hill, my view was beautifully sunny, with autumnal fog lying across the marsh. I thought it looked magical.

I drove the by-pass around Fond du Lac and continued west toward Portage. Within mere miles of Fondy, the "beautiful, autumnal fog" developed into a pea soup-thick blanket that stretched for about fifty of the remaining sixty seven mile trip. I gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my hands actually hurt when I finally stopped (the first time) at Adrienne's.

After eating breakfast in downtown Portage at (what else?) the Portage Café, I took the scenic route through a town near and dear to my heart  I ended up at Silver Lake, located on the north side close to my last apartment before I moved back here and met Handsome.

I pulled into the beach parking lot and turned my Explorer off. I opened my windows and enjoyed the view. A solitary pontoon boat cruised around the shoreline, occupied by a guy and his dog. 

Soon after, a dad pulled in with his young son. Both of them carried fishing poles down to the water, as dad recited the rules of the day..."First fish wins", "Biggest fish wins." and "Most fish wins." I never did see them reel one in. Apparently nothing was biting, and they didn't stay long.

I enjoyed the view until about twenty minutes before everyone would be arriving at Adrienne's, so I put on my seat belt, smiled a farewell, and left Silver Lake not knowing when or if I'll ever return. Serendipity brought me there. Purpose would have to bring me back. I'm glad I took photos to remind me of my well-spent morning, though. 

Oh, and thankfully, the fog burned off completely by the time I made my return trip home. "No fog" was the best ending to a perfect day.

 

September Craft Day...

First, let me apologize for my inconsistent posts. These new hours are wonderful, but this night owl is in bed by 10 on work days, and sometimes I just forget to post first. I'll try to do better.

This month's craft day was yesterday - a Sunday for a change. Of course, I didn't read the info carefully, so I arrived at 9 am to find it didn't start until 1 pm. sigh I realized my error when no other cars were at Adrienne's. 

Rather than ring the doorbell, I checked the messages to find the time change. I drove in to Portage and had breakfast at the downtown cafe. Then I drove around town a bit. I found a small lake near where I used to live and sat and read until it was time to meet up with the ladies. It was a perfect day for a little lake time.

This month, our project was a fall/Halloween floral arrangement in upcycled tin cans. Can you tell which one is mine? 🤭

Adrienne went with a skeleton/ghost theme.

Kim also chose little ghosts.

Linda added a pumpkin to her ghost arrangement.

I'm not much of a Halloweener. We've actually never lived in a place where we had trick or treaters, and although you know I love fall, I've never decorated with skeletons/ghosts, etc, opting for an owl and acorns instead. I painted these and added them to my arrangement.

Marie had a trio of girlie ghosts in her arrangement.

So that's what we all made this month. I got home by around five after a full day in my old stomping grounds. It's amazing how much things change when you haven't been around in about thirty years! (I actually only found my old apartment by the lake by accident!)

I'll share a few photos of that tomorrow. See you then!

 

September Craft Day...

September Craft Day - Adrienne, Donna, Linda K, Marie, Nancy, and Sara

  

Last Saturday, I drove over to Portage for our monthly Craft Day with my girlfriends. This month, Marie had this great idea that we use buttons to create something with the Autumn theme. You'll see by the photograph that we all took it seriously, and our interpretations were as unique as we are.

We had Dollar Tree wooden cutouts of leaves and pumpkins, blank canvases, and lots of buttons to play with. Adrienne and Sara grabbed leaves. Nancy and I chose pumpkins. Marie chose a free-hand wreath design, and Linda K. played with paints and a pumpkin print ribbon that caught her eye.

*** Remember: You can click on the image to enlarge it.

I noticed that every time Handsome and I have passed a pumpkin wagon in the area, I'm always drawn to the light green ones, so that was the colorway I chose for my piece. I do love Nancy's understated orange one, too. Adrienne and Sara's leaves turned out really cute, and I'm sure they'd be perfect for hanging on a door or cabinet. Marie had a canvas, but glued a really cool barn board print paper on top of it before gluing her buttons and leaf forms into a wreath shape. I really love how that turned out, too. Linda K. was the rebel this month. She hand painted a sunflower in the center of her canvas and glued ribbon on two corners. Then, she added buttons to compliment her painting. We giggled that she went in a completely different direction, but we all loved it.

Not too far from Adrienne's home is a really wonderful farm stand, and this time I year I always stop on my way home to see what they have. This trip I purchased 50 pounds of locally grown potatoes (the Portage area is potato country in Wisconsin) and only paid $15 for the full bag! I also bought onions and green peppers to make more zucchini relish, as we still have four large zucchinis to deal with. Then I finished my shopping by adding a small acorn squash, a small pie pumpkin, and a few fresh tomatoes for eating on sandwiches. My whole shopping spree only cost $46, and I was a happy shopper. 

Of course, that means I'll be doing more canning yet this week. That's okay, though. I'm loving how our pantry is filling up for the upcoming winter and spring, and some of these stores will likely carry us past next canning season. 

I completed stitching my commissioned bridal brooch yesterday, so I'll be doing the finishing work on it today. I'll present it to my client tomorrow, and will have a photo to share with you then, too. Lots to do now, so I'm off to the races. I'll see you later!

September Craft Day -

Kim

Our theme for September was "fall" and "Halloween". There were pumpkins and ghosts created last Saturday in Portage, WI. 

Kim made both projects - Decoupaged Pumpkin and a Rope Ghost. She chose a beautiful black and white theme for her pumpkin, and she added little sparkles to her ghost hanging.

Kris

Kris is new to our Saturday morning group. She also made both a pumpkin and a cute ghost. She truly carries the art gene. Neither project took her very long! Welcome, Kris!

Marie

Marie was helping her grandson who wanted to make a project, too. She decided to concentrate on a hanging ghost, and made the sweetest girly ghost. We all loved it!

Adrienne

Likewise, Adrienne stuck to making a little ghost, too. I told her this one reminded me of a show dog. lol I loved it's expression!

Linda

Linda and I decided to just work on pumpkins. We both painstakingly shaped and formed bits of napkins to decoupage the designs to our styrofoam forms, and then finish with wood stems and added leaves or viney bits. Linda went all-out on her Halloween theme!

Me (Donna)

I decided to go with a birdy theme - as I seem to be fixated on them lately. I tore apart multiple napkins to cover my pumpkin form, and then added the birds at the end. As with Linda's pumpkin, I added a cut tree stem and vines to complete mine. I don't have the wall space that the other ladies have, so I didn't make the ghost. 

As always, it's a special treat to spend one day a month with dear, old friends. We always have time to catch up, and there's always love and laughter. I wonder what we'll create next?